Communication technologies continue to advance in many areas. As these technologies advance, users have more flexibility in the ways they may communicate with one another. For telephone calls, users may engage in direct two-way calls or conference calls. In addition, headsets or speakerphones may be used to enable hands-free operation. Calls may take place using standard telephones, cellular telephones, computing devices, etc.
Sometimes during a telephone call an echo may occur, which may be distracting to those participating in the telephone call. By way of example, assume a person driving an automobile is on a speakerphone talking with another caller. For reference purposes, the driver is the near-end talker and the person at the other end of the connection is the far-end talker. The speech of the far-end talker is broadcast out of speakerphone loudspeaker. If this speech is picked up by a microphone of the driver, the far-end talker may hear an annoying echo of his or her own voice.
Echo cancellers are used to cancel the echo from the signal so that the person talking does not hear, or substantially does not hear an echo of their own voice. Echo cancellers are complex algorithms that perform digital signal processing techniques to cancel unwanted echoes. Double-talk detectors may also be used in conjunction with echo cancellers to provide better signal processing. Benefits may be realized by providing improved digital signal processing systems and methods for use in communication technologies.